The West again accused Russia on Wednesday of continuing “escalation” on the border with Ukraine and promised to display a united front in the future dialogue with Moscow, the start of which is expected in January.
German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock expressed her “great concern” the day after another warning from Russian President Vladimir Poutin.
“My concern is great”, because these remarks occurred before new “troop movements” on the border with Ukraine, she declared, judging that this “serious crisis” with Moscow could be solved only by dialogue.
Asked by AFP about these new movements, the US State Department reaffirmed that Washington and its allies were monitoring the situation “closely”.
“Russia continues to escalate and has not reversed the strengthening of its military presence” at the border, said a spokesman for US diplomacy.
The West accuse Moscow of having massed tens of thousands of soldiers on its border with Ukraine to prepare for a possible invasion. The Kremlin considers on the contrary that it is the attitude of Washington and NATO which is threatening, because of their political and military support in Kiev.
“Any new aggression against Ukraine would generate massive consequences and a significant cost,” warned the spokesperson for the State Department, echoing the unprecedented sanctions warning already launched by the Americans and their allies.
“We strongly urge Russia to engage in de-escalation by withdrawing its troops from the approaches to the border with Ukraine,” he added. “Our goal is de-escalation through diplomacy. The United States is ready to enter the diplomatic channel in January through several channels. “
“Communication line”
The two blocks blow hot and cold. They agreed to start a series of discussions at the very beginning of 2022, which are supposed to take place in parallel at the US-Russian bilateral level, within the NATO-Russia forum, and also at the level of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), of which Washington, Moscow and Kiev are members.
“It was agreed that at the very beginning of next year, a bilateral contact between Russian and American negotiators will take place, a first round Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov told Russian television channel RT. According to him, discussions involving NATO will begin immediately, “also in January”.
American diplomacy evoked a similar schedule on Tuesday.
“There is a line of communication and diplomatic contact that is open,” “we want this to continue,” White House spokeswoman Jen Psaki told reporters on Wednesday.
President Putin addresses his own audience, which is not the United States of America
The heads of the American diplomacy, Antony Blinken, and European, Josep Borrell, affirmed Wednesday during a telephone conversation that “any discussion on European security” with Russia would be done “in coordination and with the participation of the European Union “, According to a press release from Brussels. The American government of Joe Biden had already pledged not to discuss these subjects without involving the Europeans.
But, as the dialogue looms, President Putin adopted a particularly vehement tone on Tuesday. “In the event that the very clearly aggressive line of our Western colleagues is maintained, we will take appropriate military and technical measures of retaliation,” he declared in front of the executives of the Russian army and the Ministry of Defense.
“President Putin is addressing his own audience, which is not the United States of America,” Jen Psaki said Wednesday.
“NATO is a defensive alliance. We have no aggressive intention regarding Russia, ”added the spokeswoman for the US executive. “The aggressive rhetoric comes from one side. “